The video explores the dramatic increase in global internet connectivity and the challenges that accompany this digital transformation. Since 2020, a billion new users have begun accessing the internet, fundamentally changing how societies, economies, and businesses operate. Despite the positive strides in digital access, the pandemic exposed the critical necessity for robust digital infrastructure and showcased how essential these technologies have become in maintaining daily life and societal functions.

As digital divides narrow, persistent challenges remain, particularly regarding access to advanced smartphone technologies and affordability of data in developing regions. Many individuals still lack meaningful connectivity due to limitations in technology, financial inclusion, and unevenly priced data. The speaker addresses these gaps, emphasizing that nearly half of the global population doesn't have access to the advanced digital services necessary for modern economic and social participation.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. unprecedented [ˌʌnˈprɛsɪˌdɛntɪd] - (adjective) - Never done or known before; having no previous example. - Synonyms: (unheard-of, novel, unparalleled)

This is unprecedented.

2. nexus [ˈnɛksəs] - (noun) - A connection or series of connections linking two or more things. - Synonyms: (link, connection, tie)

...working in economic development and at the nexus of technology...

3. parity [ˈpærɪti] - (noun) - The state or condition of being equal, especially regarding status or pay. - Synonyms: (equivalence, equality, sameness)

We're not at perfect parity yet...

4. inclusion [ɪnˈkluːʒən] - (noun) - The action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. - Synonyms: (integration, incorporation, encompassment)

...talk about inclusion objectives when it comes to technology adoption.

5. fintech [ˈfɪnˌtɛk] - (noun) - Technology used to support or enable banking and financial services. - Synonyms: (financial technology, digital finance, e-finance)

...some of the hottest new, innovative fintech applications...

6. mainstreamed [ˈmeɪnstriːmd] - (verb) - Brought into the mainstream; made normal or common. - Synonyms: (normalized, popularized, regularized)

...which have become mainstreamed and normalized.

7. affordability [əˌfɔːrdəˈbɪləti] - (noun) - The quality or state of being accessible or within one's financial means. - Synonyms: (economical, low-cost, budget-friendly)

...there's more to this story in terms of affordability.

8. cybersecurity [ˌsaɪbərsɪˈkjʊrɪti] - (noun) - The practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. - Synonyms: (information security, IT security, data protection)

cybersecurity is probably the best example of that, something that is way out of reach for a government to do

9. adoption [əˈdɒpʃən] - (noun) - The act of accepting, embracing, or starting to use something new. - Synonyms: (acceptance, embrace, incorporation)

...accelerate adoption, so that we're not just going one step ahead...

10. ambitious [æmˈbɪʃəs] - (adjective) - Having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed. - Synonyms: (aspiring, determined, driven)

I'm actually pretty excited because there's a lot of interesting things happening on the front lines of innovation, with governments taking an incredibly ambitious role like we've never seen, and working in economic development and at the nexus of technology can sometimes be frustrating

How public-private partnerships can build the digital economy - Rami Amin - TEDxLogan Circle

In the last couple of years, since 2020, a billion new people have come online and are using the Internet for the very first time. This is unprecedented. And this happened in the midst of a global pandemic, a time which was terrible for the world. It disrupted economies, it disrupted lives, it disrupted our ways of learning and doing business. But for my field, digital transformation, it was actually a pretty good thing. It was a great thing. It proved just how important smartphones and high speed Internet and good quality of services are in order to keep society afloat. These are no longer just the luxury of the rich, but they're absolute necessities.

And I've had the pleasure of seeing some of this development of this trend of digital technology from a few different arenas in my life. I've seen it from academia doing research on trends. I've seen it from policy think tanks here in Washington, thinking about how policies and regulations can help accelerate that. I've thought about it from the arena of development, finance institutions and how they can harness and funnel funds to accelerate digital and Internet connectivity. And now I sit in the private sector, where I get a whole new view that looks at this topic from the perspective of making a business case and in the face of all of these rapid changes that are happening and all of these different arenas that I've been able to look into this problem on.

I'm actually pretty excited because there's a lot of interesting things happening on the front lines of innovation, with governments taking an incredibly ambitious role like we've never seen, and working in economic development and at the nexus of technology can sometimes be frustrating. It's one of these domains of economic development where every time you make a big achievement and you see people using the Internet for the first time, you actually feel like you've landed exactly where you've started, because technology has moved so quickly that there's already a new goal post for being able to benefit from those technologies.

So I want to tell you a story about just what this feels like when you work in this domain and show you why. Some of these big headlines show just how much rapid and impressive adoption there has been. Actually has a lot more under the surface that we need to look at. So old digital divides have narrowed, and this is incredible. Much to even the work of some of you sitting here today in Washington DC, who have also devoted your lives towards reducing digital divides and increasing equity. And we've now reached a point where more than two thirds of the world can access the Internet and is using the Internet. This is incredible.

Second, we've made a lot of progress towards some very stubborn and persistent gender divides in access to technology and use of technology. It's not perfect. We're not at perfect parity yet, and there's some huge pockets of underdevelopment in many corners of the world, but this is an incredible achievement in just the last few years in terms of devices. More than three quarters of the world now owns a mobile phone. This is incredible.

And what's more, 95% of the world's population lives within the network signal of pretty decent Internet connectable speeds. So this sounds amazing, right? But unfortunately, there is more to this story. As I was saying, when you work up close in this field, you end up seeing a lot more digital divides have formed.

What do I mean by this? Well, half the world is not using smartphones. There is an enormous difference in what you can do with a low end phone and a higher end smartphone. Everyone, think about that last mobile phone that you had before you got your first smartphone. Think about what that experience was like. Think about the apps that you could access and the things that you can do and how limiting that was. That's the case with the majority of people who do have a mobile phone, even though they're going to check the box to say they've got Internet connectivity and they've got a mobile device.

There's a lot more to the story in terms of financial inclusion. There's still a billion people who are unbanked. They're unbanked and they can't get access to the digital technologies that are connected to financial infrastructure. This is particularly bad for the most vulnerable citizens of not just this country, but of the world, because some of the hottest new, innovative fintech applications require more advanced smartphones to figure out how you can do appropriate credit scoring for people who don't really have credit histories.

Third, in terms of affordability, data is way more expensive. And I'm not just talking about your monthly phone bill going up every month. I'm talking about in the lowest income countries, getting a data package, a necessity for doing the most productive and constructive and life changing things on your phone, requires data, and it's 20 times more expensive from the perspective of household income in the lowest income countries compared to the highest.

And finally, in terms of digital ids, there's nearly half of the world still does not have access to a digital id. Why does this matter? Those things that you can store on your phone are absolutely critical now in a lot of countries for opening up access to all sorts of public services, as what is happening right now is a phase of incredible digital transformation in government, with subsidies and doing taxes and getting social services now being delivered not through paperwork and sending in offices, not even through online web portals, but sometimes even through apps.

So even though there's been all this incredible progress towards narrowing digital divides, we are still lacking meaningful connectivity. Not just connectivity, but meaningful connectivity. What do I mean about meaningful connectivity? Why I'm so passionate about this? Just think of the last couple of years during the post pandemic era where new technologies that run on artificial intelligence, large language models, blockchain things like chat, GPT, telemedicine and telehealth, which have become mainstreamed and normalized.

Those are a distant dream for someone who's just got a basic mobile phone and living in a place where the data needed for that is just way too expensive. So this is why you get frustrated when you work in economic development of the nexus and technology, because technology, unlike other sectors, in my opinion, has had more innovation in the last five years than in the last 50. And when you have that sort of phenomenon that you're working in, you've got to be more ambitious when you talk about inclusion objectives when it comes to technology adoption.

So I'm actually pretty optimistic because there's pretty exciting things happening on the front lines of innovation in a number of countries, and I'm going to talk about one today, where governments are really demonstrating the kind of ambition that I would love to see across the world.

Before I do that, let me just take a step back and show you what it's like when you don't have access to these high speed Internet and smartphones, which you're probably going to need even to be watching this talk online, streaming it from wherever you are in the world. This is what it feels like when you're working in development, and again, you take one step up, and again, it's like two steps back and you're either where you started or you're even further behind.

This is Abby. Abby lives in West Africa. Some of you might even recognize the pattern on her dress and can maybe even guess the country. But it doesn't matter, because I've met people like Abby in every corner of the world that I have worked in. This is a pretty common story. Abby's got a mobile phone, she's got access to the Internet, but it's one of those old phones that you had before you got your smartphone. It's incredibly limiting.

She's got access to mobile money, which has been a huge success story in Africa, where you can use those old style phones on two g to actually move money around. But even in the face of that, she can access all of these new fintech applications that require more advanced phone factors in order to access those sorts of apps aren't just for fun and social media. I'm talking about the sorts of apps that can, again, bring credit to someone who needs it and doesn't have it and doesn't have a credit history. Those sorts of financial services are incredibly difficult, if not impossible, on those old style phones.

So Abby is able to use her phone to get remittances and do lots of other interesting things. But again, using telehealth, telemedicine, having her children borrow the phone so they can get homework help at night, it's impossible. And these are what the new digital divides look like in the era of artificial intelligence, large language models, and all of the different virtualization of software that we've seen that allows you to work from home, study from home, and even get treated by a doctor from home.

So this is the exciting solution that I think is going to be needed if we really want to accelerate and reduce these digital divides and accelerate adoption, so that we're not just going one step ahead, we're taking giant leaps ahead. And I think it's about revisiting how we think about public private partnerships. And it's very fitting that we're here in Washington, because when we think about governments, we often think about them from the perspective of policies and regulations that they have the power to do. That basically dictates how businesses in the private sector operate.

But in my opinion, they can do so much more. And here's an example that I want to talk about, and that example is Ukraine in 2019. The ukrainian government put forth an ambitious goal, an incredibly ambitious goal, to take all government services, all public services, and make them Internet accessible. And I don't just mean with a new website and a web platform. I mean by using an app on your phone. They wanted to make it so that paying your taxes, getting subsidies, or social assistance is just as easy as it is to call a rideshare to come and pick you up using one of these apps.

And they were pretty successful. It only took them a couple of years with this incredible 100% inclusion oriented ambition. They didn't just get people connected or to go into the rural regions with connectivity. They were looking at rapid adoption and technology innovation. And so here we are in 2024, and we've got more than 20 million people in Ukraine. That's more than half the population is using this app regularly. They don't have to wait in long lines, they don't have to go to these boring government offices, which, if you've seen the news, is actually also quite a dangerous thing to do for them right now. They can just pull out their smartphone, access this app, and connect with the governments in a way that they never have before.

I don't know about you, but I live here in Washington. I am a local, and I assure you I cannot do any of the things that they can do in Ukraine on my smartphone. In fact, I don't even have a single government made app on my smartphone. So Ukraine is an impressive example here that I think is worth replicating, not just because that they had this incredible ambition oriented around 100% of inclusion, but because this is a country and a government that didn't have the technical know how. This wasn't like in an Estonia, it certainly wasn't a Singapore or South Korea. And they absolutely lacked the resources. They didn't have the capacity to do it. In fact, the team is about 30 people.

So what did they do? They figured out exactly when and where to plug in the private sector to fill in those gaps where the technology innovation was absolutely critical to keep those systems safe and secure. cybersecurity is probably the best example of that, something that is way out of reach for a government to do. But the private sector, where I sit, is actually pretty incredible at it. And so what I would love to see is more ambitious. Governments like Ukraine, I think they've proven the model works, and I think there's three big takeaways that I'd love everyone to reflect on from this experience.

And the first is that, you know, it's when you're working in economic development and you want to see progress and you're thinking about things like inclusion and equity, you've got to be incredibly ambitious. Incremental change in the face of artificial intelligence, it's not enough. And governments like Ukraine, the second takeaway, have proven that there's new ways to think about governments. They can be part of the innovation process, too. They can stimulate the demand of uptake and adoption. That ends up making a business case for the private sector to crowd in.

And that's what we saw with Ukraine. And finally, the final takeaway here is, I appreciate this talk has been really on a high scale. I'm talking about the millions and the billions, and maybe that sounds just a little bit too ambitious. I totally get it. These are huge numbers. But it was actually in this very city, 65 years ago, when I think an equally ambitious objective was set forth by this government to land someone on the moon. Totally primitive technology. The technology wasn't even there, but they wanted to get someone to the moon and back safely and alive. I challenge everyone to think about what we could achieve if we took a similar moonshot mission and applied it towards thinking about inclusion in equity objectives. And that's why I'm incredibly optimistic. Thank you.

Technology, Digital Transformation, Inclusion, Economics, Innovation, Global Internet, Tedx Talks